Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Overview of terror attacks in Balochistan through the years

A picture from the explosion at Quetta’s Civil Hospital on August 8, 2016. At least 70 people were killed and as many as 112 injured in the blast. Photo: File

QUETTA: The recently launched Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad is in full swing in Balochistan, which has witnessed about 128 explosions have occurred in Balochistan since 2014 till date, as per police records.

The operation was launched with the aim to extinct terrorism from the country.

In the 128 explosions, around 141 people have lost their lives. The statistics are based on the police data, which was available to the Geo News correspondent.

A breakdown of the statistics show that about 61 explosions including three suicide bombings occurred in Balochistan in 2014, in which 23 people were killed.

In 2015, about 31 explosions occurred, including one suicide bombing, which claimed the lives of 13 people. One police officer was killed in the bombings.

In comparison to 2014 and 2015, the year 2016 proved to be most violent as 33 explosions occurred including three suicide bombings. About 103 people, including two police officers and two FC personnel, were killed in the attacks.

In the two-and-a-half months of 2017, three explosions have occurred, which have claimed two lives and injured 25.

In the current year, about 49 operations have been conducted in which 71 suspects have been arrested, according to the police.

Operations against illegal immigrants are also ongoing and 801 illegal immigrants have been apprehended so far. Cases have been registered against the suspects under the Foreigners Act.

The provincial home ministry also revealed that about 1,359 combing operations and 15,640 intelligence operations have occurred in the province under National Action Plan in the last two years. Moreover, 552 terrorists and 23,805 criminals were arrested in these operations and about 9,469 weapons and 553,644 bullets were seized from them.

As many as 37 kidnappings and 22 cases of ethnic and religious terrorism were also reported in the two years.

Security situation in Quetta

Quetta DIG remarked that the city is constantly under threat from terrorists. In this regard, the security in Quetta has been tightened along the entry and exit points of the city. Police officers and FC personnel are strictly monitoring all the vehicles leaving or coming to the city